Where are your keys?

When you’re out and about, do you keep your keys out, ready to use as a weapon if you’re attacked? Having a “found weapon” (something around you that you can use to bolster your strikes) is a great idea, and keys are one of the best. But lots of people have gotten the idea that they should carry their keys interwoven between their knuckles, and that’s something that I, as a self-defense teacher of almost 30 years, think is a bad idea. more»

5 self-defense techniques you didn't know you could use!

Defend Yourself and our partner tagg magazine

put together some inspiring examples of people standing up for themselves and others, like the 80-year-old woman who pelted a grocery store's would-be robbers with mangoes! Get some more ideas here.

Inside a Defend Yourself workshop

Take a look at what happens in a Defend Yourself workshop. Noorjahan Akbar made this video for her masters in journalism. Many thanks to the DC & Baltimore Service Corps Members who let her visit the workshop.

Too drunk to know better?

New research found that "Young women are often the targets of aggression when they're out in bars, but the problem isn't that guys are too drunk to know better. Instead, men are preying on women who have had too much to drink," according to NPR.

The solution, in part, is training bystanders -- especially bar and club staffs -- to intervene. And that's where Defend Yourself and partner Collective Action for Safe Spaces come in. Our new Safe Bars program offers just such training to bars and clubs in the D.C. area.

Defend Yourself's Lauren Taylor told NPR that "she realizes that this goes beyond just how people behave on Saturday night. 'Really what we're talking about is changing rape culture,' Taylor says. '[Rape culture] is the overall messaging throughout our culture that says this kind of behavior is allowed.'" Safe Bars was also featured on Slate.

Custom classes --

just for you!

Defend Yourself will come to you. If you have a group (workplace, sports team, house of worship, group of friends, Girl Scout troop, or whatever...) we can tailor a class to your needs. Just contact us via email.

Why self-defense?

Whether or not you live in a high-crime area, attack is an unfortunate possibility. For women especially, most assaults don't come from strangers in parking lots: They come from friends, acquaintances, romantic partners, or family members. more»

What is self-defense?

Many people think of self-defense as what they would do if someone jumped them in a parking lot or dark alley.

We do teach ways to fight off an attacker. But self-defense is much more than that! It is a set of skills--verbal, emotional, mental, and physical--that you can use to keep yourself safe, claim your space, set limits, say no, heal from abuse or attacks, and live the life you want to live. more»